"Champagne corks with medallions"

Oil on panel - 5" x 7"

For the last 3 months I have embarked on an artistic journey of daily painting which has opened my eyes to a world which I thought was lost to me. Is there anything sadder than an artist who has lost his spark, his inspiration, that thing that drove him to create? After 40 years, I despaired that my muse was gone for good. I read all the self-help books on regaining your creative vision, studied the “Artist’s Way”, did my morning pages, etc., but nothing ignited the flame. I knew I could still paint and buoyed myself up by painting portraits, not that there is anything wrong with that, per se. But portraits are meant to please the sitter and the artist together. I wanted to paint for me and have others excited by my vision. Portraits, even good portraits are done one at a time. They move through the studio one or two at a time. Years have gone by since my last one man show. Friends stop asking what I was working on. Then one day while I was researching a painting on the internet, I stumbled upon “dailypainters.com.” I was transfixed by the variety of artists doing on a daily basis, what seemed impossible; to take mundane, everyday objects and compose them into little jewels. Art didn’t have to have an earth shaking message. It needn’t be this deep thing. It was enough to be well composed and executed. I loved that the hand of the artist, those mad brush strokes that no computer software program could create, were there for all to see. The clouds parted and I too, started seeing in paint again. The paintings in my last exhibition were all 40” x 60” and here I was doing these little tiny works and becoming more excited about them by the day. Friends dropped by the studio and were excited again. I started posting them on a blog and people would be upset if a day went by without a new piece. I hadn’t even figured out the ebay thing and yet most have been bought in what could be described as a feeding frenzy…”What do you mean the fish are gone?” Today I got word that I had been juried into that group of artists that had reignited my passion for this crazy artist’s life – http://www.dailypainters.com/. Of course, as fate would have it, I leave for Paris this weekend and will be disappointing those who like my stuff. Rest assured, it is only for a week and I hope to gather a lot of fresh ideas while there.
I have this thing for corks, as many of you know. These champagne corks reminded me of a pile of mushrooms. I thought it would be fun to inject a bit of color and shine with the medallions. Enjoy.